FREEPORT

Freeport Fire Chief Darrel Fournier has resigned from a parttime job with a fire damage restoration company, following reports over a potential conflict of interest, the company’s Portland franchise owner has confirmed.

“He resigned,” said Mark Higgins, who owns a Paul Davis Restoration franchise, in an interview on Friday. “Because of the situation, it was best for him to resign.”

Fournier’s resignation came after questions were raised about whether the part-time job with Paul Davis represented a conflict of interest.

Questions about the relationship between Fournier and the franchise that performs insurance work after fires and other situations were raised after he recommended the company to the owner of a duplex that burned on Dec. 20.

Efforts to reach Fournier for comment were unsuccessful on Friday, but Fournier told the Portland Press Herald that his work with Paul Davis was performed on his days off from Freeport.

The Press Herald reported that Fournier at first defended his part-time job with the company during a telephone conversation with a reporter, but by the end of the conversation he said he would resign the second job. Fournier said he notified the town manager when he was hired by the restoration company about six months ago.

On its website, the company described itself as a “franchise organization that provides services to cleanup and repair damage to residential, commercial and institutional properties due water, fire, mold, storm or other disasters.”

In an interview with The Times Record, Higgins reiterated that “it’s very common for restoration companies to partner with fire departments.”

“It’s a natural fit,” he continued. “It’s fairly common for Servpro and other companies to have some sort of relationship with fire departments.…

It’s just a trend over the industry.”

Higgins described Fournier as someone who has been “working to try to help the community all his life,” and who said working for Paul Davis offered “an opportunity to provide a service” in addition to his firefighting duties to those who had been victims of a fire.

“He’s going to retire sometime in 2015,” Higgins said. “He was looking for something to do in retirement and this was a natural fit for him.”

Fournier was the only firefighter employed by Higgins.

Higgins said his company may rehire Fournier if he does retire from Freeport.

“Anything is possible,” Higgins said.

Freeport’s town ordinance prohibits outside full-time employment “unless due notification is supplied to the appropriate department head or to the town manager,” but does not address part-time employment.

Freeport town offices were closed on Friday, however, Town Manager Peter Joseph told the Press Herald last week that the town was treating the situation as a confidential personnel matter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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